Make groups work: improving group work through the principles of academic assertiveness in higher education and professional development
Jenny Moon, Centre for Excellence in Media Practice, BournemouthUniversity / freelance consultant
Tutor’s introduction to the materials
The aim of this material is to help students to help themselves to work better in groups in higher education or professional developmentthrough provision and application of some basic principlesof academic assertiveness. Group work is central to many areas of academic and personal development work, from joint work on critique and problem solving to lab work and research and in the development of products such as films, buildings, art work and advertisements. Academic assertiveness is described broadly as a set of emotional and psychological orientations and behaviours that enable a learner appropriately to manage the challenges to the self in the course of learning and their experiences in formal education and personal development work (see Part A for more detail on the term).
I work on the assumption that in learning about these basic ideas of assertiveness and then putting the learning into practice in discussion of some scenarios about groups, learners will be more able to recognise and discuss issues that arise in the ‘real life’ group work that is associated with their programmes. The assumption is that they will have greater understanding of what might be going right and wrong in the group, they will have useful language that will help them to discuss group processes. They will have some means of helping their group back into a functioning state when things go wrong and they may be more willing to address problems at an early stage.
Beyond this introduction for tutors, this pack consists of three parts which aredesigned for direct use with students. They can be used online or as paper copies (I suggest that you may need some paper copies – see below). There are no copyright restrictions, though I would appreciate acknowledgement of the source of this work.
The material is principally based on a book ‘Achieving Success through Academic Assertiveness’ (Jennifer Moon, published by Routledge in 2008). I have drawn on other literature for the group work, for example Group Work in Assessment in Media Production Resource Pack (n/d, BournemouthUniversity). The principles given here apply to any group in any discipline – and interactions and groups outside academic life. A form of the material with examples specifically from media disciplines is published by (and available from) the Centre for Excellence in Media Practice, BournemouthUniversity ( I worked on the latter with Andrew Ireland and Andrew’s ideas have contributed also to the current publication.
Using the materials
The contents of the pack are as follows
Part A Some principles and practices of academic assertiveness for effective
group work – learner materials
This is the material for learners to read. Learners should realise that the principles apply to every area of life, not just academic groups.
Part B Alist of things that can cause problems or influence the functioning of
groups
This is basically a list of things that can go wrong or can influence change in groups. It is a reference list that can help in the group work suggested in this pack or the list can help to diagnose problems in ‘real life’ groups.
Part C Senarios for discussion by groups.
These are scenarios of typical group work situations in a range of disciplines that are deliberately presented in a variety of formats (which will take more or less time for discussion). The tutor may select scenarios to be worked on, or let students make the choice of which scenario(s) to discuss.
The manner of use of this pack that I suggest involves, at the least, a session of reading and thinking work for students and then a group work session of a minimum period of an hour.
The materials are for use with learners at any stage of their programmes but I suggest that this is after the first 6 months of their programme. It is probably best if the materials are used just before an activity in which students will be working in groups, so that they can put the learning straight into practice. They may be given paper copies of all of the parts together or directed to view the material on line. For the discussions at Stage 2, some paper copies of all of the materials will be required for reference in the work, but not necessarily one for each student and these can be taken in afterwards, leaving students then with the on-line version.
Stage 1
Learners are told to read Parts Aand B to think about the ideas in relation to themselves and their prior experiences in groups. It is worth pointing out that the term ‘group’ can be applied to educational situations, leisure groups (including friendship groups), family groups, the group of students with whom they might be sharing accommodation – and so on. They are told that the following week or at the next meeting / seminar / tutorial / class, they will asked, in groups, to discuss some scenarios from Part C in the light of what they have learned from Part A.
Stage 2 – discussing scenarios and reporting on the discussion to other learners
At the next meeting, students are split into groups. These may be the groups in which they will be working in a subsequent project. The assumption is that they have read Parts A and B. The groups are then directed towards the scenarios in Part C. Groups are asked to discuss ways in which the situation in the scenario can be managed by the group or the individuals in it. They need to know that there is not one specific solution to be sought and that they are welcome to draw on ideas that go well beyond the academic assertiveness material – even into common-sense! They are encouraged to use their imagination!
You, as tutor, have various options here. You can ask all of the groups to discuss the same scenario; you can allocate different scenarios or you can let them choose which scenarios to look at. You may choose to give a specific time period for discussion of one given or chosen scenario or you may give a period of time for discussion of one or more scenarios. The scenarios are deliberately provided in a variety of forms which involve more and less detail.
Groups should be encouraged to work towards an agreed set of suggestions to sort out or alleviate the situation in the scenario. To this end, you may give each group a piece of flip chart paper on which to record their conclusions, or you may ask them to identify a ‘reporter’ who will write notes for later reporting. After the discussions of the scenarios, groups could be asked to present a brief report to the other groups on their suggestions as to how the situation in their scenario(s) might be managed. This reporting stage encourages groups to work towards a joint conclusion.
You might, as tutor, wish to point out to the students that they have been engaging in group work and you may ask them in groups, or as individuals, now to reflect on the processes that they have just experienced.
Stage 3 – Some variations
Get the groups of students to explore issues in role play. Several of the scenarios are presented with descriptions of roles
Students work on the scenario on their own first
The work is conducted as above, but the students are asked to read the scenario chosen by the tutor for further discussion in the group and to spend ten minutes or so writing notes on personal suggestions for the scenario before it is discussed in a group. This can facilitate the later group discussion
Students write their own senarios
Depending on circumstances, a further activity can be set up in which groups develop their own scenarios of situations that can arise in groups. Imagination works just as well as reality in the development of scenarios. The scenarios produced in this way could provide material on which other students in subsequent classes could work.
Alternatively, scenario-writing could follow some actual group work and it could then be a means of groups reflecting back on groups’ own experiences.
Another variation, which could support groups involved in a substantial project, is to get groups to write scenarios based on their own group experiences, changing names and details and then each group looks at and reports on the material from another group.
Part A Making groups work: some principles and practices of academic assertiveness for more effective groupwork
An extended version of this material on academic assertiveness will be found in‘Achieving Success through Academic Assertiveness’ (Jennifer Moon - published by Routledge in 2008 – dated 2009).
Groupwork and academic assertiveness
The principles of academic assertiveness that are presented here should help you, as a learner to deal better with the issues that tend to arise in working in groups as well aswith other challenges that you meet in other areas of your life. Academic assertiveness is a mix of self awareness and awareness of the behaviour of others, the development of some abilities, some ideas and specific techniques. Being assertive involves also a willingness to apply these ideas to yourself, to learn from them and change where necessary. Being assertive in a group context sets up a mindset to sort things out and we all know that being in groups can be difficult. This material contains some principles, illustrated by examples and also some issues for you to think about for yourself.
Academic assertiveness
We are going to start with a formal definition of academic assertiveness, because it gives you a broad picture of what it is all about:
Academic assertiveness is a set of emotional and psychological orientations and behaviours that enables a learner appropriately to manage the challenges to the self in the course of learning and their experiences in formal education.
Academic assertiveness includes the following areas of behaviour in the contexts of academic work and in the general experience of being a learner. The list is in no particular order and there are overlaps:
- the finding of an appropriate ‘voice’ or form of expression through which to engage in critical thinking or debate;
- the willingness to challenge, to disagree and to seek or accept a challenge;
- the ability to cope with the reality or the likelihood of not being ‘right’ sometimes, making an error or failing; effective recovery from these situations;
- the willingness to change one’s mind if necessary; the openness to feedback on one’s performance (academic or otherwise);
- willingness to listen and take account of the viewpoint of others, awareness that others can make mistakes and reasonable tolerance of their failings;
- autonomy - a willingness to be proactive; to make and justify independent judgements and to act on them;
- an appropriate level of academic self esteem.
Do you recognise these as challenges? One way or the other most of these come into successful groupwork.
What it is to be assertive?
These are assertive behaviours. You:
- can ask for what you want or need; can ask for favours;
- are open and honest;
- are able to stand up for yourself without undue anxiety;
- can express feelings reasonably openly;
- face up to matters in your life;
- have reasonable self confidence;
- are able to say ‘no’ without undue guilt;
- are aware of your rights as a human and the corresponding responsibilities;
- can express negative feelings appropriately;
- are of ‘put downs’, perpetrated by you or others;
- can to give and receive constructive criticism;
- can deal with unjustified criticism;
- can gracefully give and receive compliments;
- can see that it can be all right to express anger sometimes;
- tend to be socially responsible;
- can think rationally about issues such as guilt and blame in self and others;
- normally aim to negotiate and discuss as a first course of action if there is confrontation.
You will notice here that assertiveness is not seen as aggression - I will return to this later. This is a list of the ‘perfections’ of assertive behaviour. Few could claim that they could keep up with a list such as this at all times but if you have an idea of how you can be more effective in your behaviour, you have a chance. Look at these two.
Hannah and Marie are working on the development of a short film with three other students who also are friends with each other. Hannah and Marie are fairly quiet and they tend to discuss the work that they are doing with each other because they feel somewhat daunted by the other three who are more boisterous. It is one of the others, for example, who has dictated who should be doing what – and his friends clearly look up to him as the leader. Under his leadership they are, as a group, not making much progress. Hannah has been learning about assertiveness, while Marie said it was not for her. The situation bothers Hannah because she can see what is going on. She decides that she should do something about it, though she has not been in the habit of speaking out in the past. In the next meeting of the group, instead of sitting quietly while the ‘leader’ dictates what they should do, Hannah takes a step forward and says ‘Look, I realise that I have not been saying much up to now – just following along with your decisions – but we are not being all that successful in this work are we? Perhaps we need to think again about how we are making the decisions’.
The others are surprised, but actually Hannah has echoed what has been in their minds. Marie is astonished at her friend. She is horrified at her daring at first, but as the group re-forms and begins to function in a more effective way, she starts to admire Hannah’s action.
How assertive are you. Write an assessment of yourself in this respect (as you understand it so far) in a sort paragraph.
There are some things about academic assertiveness that you will need to think about.
The first of these is howyou feel about changing. A basic message in assertiveness is that you can change and become more assertive if you choose to do that. Dweck (Dweck, 2000) suggests that when it comes to the notion of personal change, there seems to be two groups in the population. People in one group think that the way one is as a human is the way one will always be – intelligent or not, shy or not shy and so on. In contrast, those in the other group see humans as adaptive and able to change - if they experience low grades in a course they recognise that they can still change and achieve. The important point from Dweck’s work is that it is what you think about this issue of change that makes the difference. If your self theory (as these thoughts are called) is about ‘I can change’, then you can change. If you have decided that you cannot change you will probably not try (and you may blame others for your inabilities). To reach success, you have to believe that you can change. For example do you recognise this? It is Jamie’s view of himself:
‘It’s no good, they always said at school that I could not write properly. So what’s new – I get criticised for my writing at uni. I’m just bad at it and that’s the way it is’.
How is your ‘self theory’? Do you feel you are a fixed entity or that you can change?
A second point is that being assertive can lead to guiltfeelings because you may be going against behaviours that you learnt to be ‘correct’ as a child – such as‘you should give in to others’. You will need to learn to recognise the guilt and to let it go. It is often of no use to you! Guilt is a feeling and feeling guilty does not mean that you are wrong in your actions or thoughts. Here is an example:
Jem has finished the essay that needs to be handed in tomorrow. Tod has not done his yet. He comes round to see Jem, chats for a while over a coffee and then asks Jem if he can have a look at his completed essay ‘Like - just so as I can get some ideas’, he says. Jem is not naïve. He knows that Tod wants to use his references and probably to copy some of the ideas or structure. He says ‘No’.
Tod says ‘I thought you were a friend. I’ve left this a bit late and am in trouble with it and you’re not going to help. Thanks Mate!’ He picks up his coat and walks out. Jem feels pangs of guilt and he is sad but he knows that he has made the right decision.
A third important thing is that you do not need to win every battle and you will not ‘win’ every argument. Some situations can be defined as ‘no win’ – battling on will not achieve anything and also in some situations that would be dangerous. In both of these, withdrawal maybe a form of assertion.
Somesociology students are involved in a project on abortion. Jenna finds that she has been put into a group who have radical pro-life views. She believes strongly in abortion because she had a termination of a pregnancy last year and she is very grateful that it was possible. The others do not know this and treat Jenna as if she is quite callous when she states her views. She says she will go along with the majority view for this project, but only if the others will agree to listen to her views first.